New Investigator Research Grant Program

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive blood cancer in which over half of these patients will develop relapse after chemotherapy treatment. In this project, we plan investigate a biological process known as RNA splicing and how it impacts AML relapse. RNA splicing removes some parts of an RNA molecule, and the remaining parts are then joined together in various ways, which allows cells to make different proteins with different functions from the same gene. In this work, we found a gene called RUNX1 that produces several gene variant or “isoforms” with specific biological functions. We found that one of these isoforms, RUNX1C is needed for leukemia cells to survive during chemotherapy and causes treatment relapse. This project aims to understand how RUNX1C promote AML cells to survive chemotherapy treatment. Moreover, we are developing novel therapeutic strategies to target RUNX1C in AML. Our data supports that targeting RUNX1C can increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy, suggesting a potential new way to treat leukemia and prevent relapse and has the potential to improve treatments and survival outcomes of AML patients.